


Family Dinners

by trashy_kai



Category: Supernatural
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Human, Bromance, College AU, College Student Castiel, College Student Sam, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Love Story, M/M, Romance, cas and gabe get closer, college student gabe, sam and gabe are bffs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-06
Updated: 2014-05-04
Packaged: 2018-01-18 10:39:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 15,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1425493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trashy_kai/pseuds/trashy_kai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean and Cas never met, but their brothers have. Once Gabriel introduces Castiel to Sam -Dean's brother-, Gabriel decides he wants meet Sam's brother too. After having met several times, they decide it's time to have a family dinner with all of them together. That was the first time Dean and Castiel ever laid eyes on each other; but that won't be the last time it will happens.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Meeting the family

**Author's Note:**

> I'm writing this story for Camp NaNoWriMo, I hope you like it! ^.^

_** Chapter one ** _

"Come on, Sam! You gotta meet Cassie!" Gabriel whined as he tried to pull his best friend's arm.

Sam huffed but let himself be dragged.

"Why do I need to meet your brother? It's not like we're dating or something!"

Ever since Sam stepped into his room at College, he became best friends with his roommate. Gabriel was everything he needed; he was fun, he made sure Sam ate and slept, he kept trying to make Sam smile, even -especially- after a really tiring day. Sam knew just how amazing Gabriel was, but he didn't want the other boy to become a peacock because he was good for him. Gabriel already had his own way of peacocking when he did something he enjoyed.

"Ugh! Saaaaaaam! You need to know him!" Gabriel whined as he led Sam to their building's common room. After a lot of work, Gabe got Castiel to agree and visit him at school. Despite being the oldest sibling, Castiel didn't like to baby Gabriel around much. He didn't like to impose himself on Gabriel's friends so he usually stayed far away from his brother's friendships. The only friend Castiel ever got to meet was a girl named Kali. The girl had been a hurricane in Gabriel's life and in the end, she broke his heart. "I invited him for dinner, so like it or not, you're gunna get to know him!"

Sam rolled his eyes. Gabriel was the kind of person to invite his brother over and not tell Sam a thing until five minutes to the actual dinner. Thankfully, Gabriel warned him earlier than that. That way, Sam would be able to cook something tasty for his best friend's brother. During the whole time he had been Gabe's roommate, Sam realized that the guy loved his brother. Every time he could, he would start babbling on how strange his brother was, or how differently he would do things, and in the end, despite having Gabriel telling him how weird his brother was, Sam knew that Gabe meant it in a loving way.

"If you say so…"

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Dinner with Castiel went great. Sam and Castiel got along nicely, and that made Gabriel happy.

"AH!" He said as hugged both his brother and his best friend close. "My two favorite people got along so well! I'm really glad! How was I gunna ditch my brother for you Sammy-kins? There's no doubt I would choose you, but how would I get rid of him? We're family, so it would be a bit difficult to avoid him!"

Castiel rolled his eyes.

"Ever the drama queen…" He whispered.

Sam nodded knowingly.

"Indeed." He agreed.

Gabriel kept hugging them for a while more, he was too happy to oblige to what the other two wanted. As time passed, Castiel started growing impatient; he needed to get back to his own building.

"I really have to go now Gabe." Castiel told his brother. "It was nice meeting you, Samuel."

Sam nodded.

"Right back at ya. And you can just call me Sam." During the whole dinner, Castiel had called him Samuel, and now Sam thought it would be the best time to make him stop calling him by the name he recognized as his grandpa's. Samuel made him feel old, and right now, Sam only wanted to be young and enjoy his life.

Castiel nodded. Despite not being in his brother's life that much they were both in the same college, the only difference was the courses they were taking and the buildings they were staying. After living under the same roof for almost nineteen years, Castiel decided that he didn't want to be the center of Gabriel's pranks; that was when he chose not be his brother's roommate when he got into his college one year after Castiel got there.

"Alright, Sam. I'll see you guys later." And with that, Castiel left the room.

Gabriel grinned at Sam.

"What?" Sam asked as he started walking back to their room. Since they weren't allowed to cook in their rooms, their dinner was at the common room in their floor.

"I'm just thinking that it wasn't that bad. My brother didn't eat you; you still have all your teeth. It can't have been that bad, or was it?" Gabriel asked. He thought they went along pretty well, but he could be wrong. Sam could have just tried to be polite with Castiel and if Cassie didn't like Sam he would have pretended he liked him anyway. Castiel was always trying to make his brother happy, even when he didn't like or agree with the reason of said happiness.

Sam stopped and turned around so that he could face his best friend.

"Are you really that insecure? Your brother is a nice guy and I don't see why you would be so hesitant about this. I think we got along pretty good Gabe, so what's makes you not think that?" Sam was frowning. He didn't understand why Gabriel was behaving like that. The idea of introducing both of them had been his. He had been the one to arrange everything behind Sam's back. So what was the problem? Unless… "Are you afraid he doesn't like me? Oh God… Was it something I said?"

At that point, Sam started to fret about Castiel too. It didn't matter that Gabriel was his best friend, and that he had just met his brother… What mattered was that he possibly did something wrong that pissed his best friend's brother! What if Castiel didn't think Gabriel and him could continue being friends?! He couldn't have that happening to him! Gabriel was his best friend!

"Sam!" Gabriel called, trying to bring him back down to Earth. "It's not like that. You didn't want to meet him, so I was afraid you didn't like him… Cassie is my closest family member. I don't know where I would be if it weren't for him… I don't want to leave either of you, so I get a bit anxious while thinking about the possibility of one of you not liking the other…"

Sam sighed. There were very few moments when Gabriel let his guard down. This happened to be one of them. The only thing Sam could do when people cried around him was to hug them to calm them down.

"Shh…" Sam tried sooth him as he hugged Gabe. "He's a nice guy. And if you think I didn't do anything strange, then I think it's ok. He grew up with you, right?" Gabriel nodded. "Then he knows a little bit about what's weird." Sam said as he flashed a grin towards Gabriel's bitch-face.

"What are you trying to imply?" Gabriel asked a bit annoyed with Sam. He knew Sam was just trying to make him forget his worries, but being called weird by his best friend wasn't what Gabriel was expecting. Suddenly deciding to go along with Sam's joke, Gabriel jumped from Sam's arms and feigned hurt. "Are you calling me- me- weird?! Sorry if you can't see that what you called weird is actually FABULOUS!"

Sam laughed. Now that was the Gabriel knew!

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

A few weeks passed and as Gabe spoke to Castiel, he was reassured that Sam was good for him. If his brother liked Sam, then he could be happy with his life. No more dinners were arranged though. All of them had their own exams to take, so all their time was filled with studying and preparing for them.

As they finally ended their mid-term exams, Gabriel started nagging Sam.

"Saaaaaaammy…" He called.

"What?" After living with Gabriel during six months, he gave up trying to make his best friend stop calling him every nickname he could find.

"You got to meet my brother…" He started, trying to see if Sam knew what he was talking about. As Sam frowned, Gabriel sighed. Sam didn't know what he was talking about. "When do I get to meet yours?"

Sam's family was always a complicated theme. Gabriel knew it was hard for Sam; he never called home, he never talked about his family. That is except about his older brother. Gabriel heard so much about Dean Winchester that sometimes he wasn't sure if they had met or not. The way Sam talked about his older brother made him think about how Sam idolized him.

"I don't know… Dean is working. He finished college last year. He might not be able to come here…" That was bullshit and both of them knew it. From what Gabriel heard of the oldest Winchester, Dean was the kind of person to simply let go of everything if his brother asked him to.

"Are you ashamed of me, Sam?" Gabriel asked, the mocking tone of his voice trying to lighten the mood, even if he was afraid of Sam's answer.

Sam shook his head.

"That's not it, Gabe," Sam reassured. "Dean works at a garage nearby. He's the one paying the room's bills, and his own apartment's bills… Thankfully, I have a scholarship; otherwise, he would be the one paying that too. Dean works a lot, and I don't want to ask him to come here…"

"That's enough!" Gabriel said. "Your brother loves you, and if you don't invite him here, he will think you're ashamed of him or something. If you invite him, he will be happy to be around you. Sammy, when was the last time you two saw each other?"

Sam blushed. Gabriel was right. Sam hadn't seen his brother ever since he first walked into his room. That was almost seven months ago, and the only way Sam talked to his brother was through texts; and even those weren't as frequent as he wanted them to be.

Gabriel understood Sam's silence as his cue to continue.

"You will invite him to dinner today. I bet he'll be eager to see you!" Sam wanted to, he really did. But there was a little problem… As soon as Dean and Gabriel were in front of each other it would be the worst thing to have ever happened. They would either love each other or hate each other's guts. What drew Sam closer to Gabriel was the way he reminded him of Dean. If they got along well, Sam would probably have to run for his life! He could see both of them taking sides and pranking him. Oh God… Sam could see Dean telling Gabriel all his weak spots. But, on the other side, it would be nice to see his brother again. And Gabe was right. He got the chance to meet Castiel so Gabriel should have the chance to meet Dean.

Before agreeing, Sam sighed. It would be good to see his brother after such a long time.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

"Hey-a Sammy!" Dean greeted with a grin. "Long time no see!"

Sam stepped out of the doorway and let his brother inside their building. Once again, it wasn't possible to cook in their rooms –and neither of them wanted to order take-out- so they had to be in the common room. Thankfully, it was a good enough place for everyone. Not many people actually cooked and ate there. Most of them went to the cafeteria, so the only people there during meals were actually Sam and Gabriel. Neither of them liked to go out of their building just to eat, it was so much easier to eat and be close to their bed. Dean stepped inside, and as soon as he was able to get the beer out of his hands, he pulled Sam into a tight hug.

"Yeah… Too long," Sam agreed as he hugged his brother close.

It didn't take too long for Gabriel to jump in the middle of them and introduce himself to Dean.

"Yo! I'm Gabe, nice to meet you Dean-o!"

Dean looked at him intently for a few seconds before snorting.

"And who the hell is this?" He asked his brother. Of course Dean knew who he was. Sam told him about Gabriel; he even explained who hyperactive the guy was.

Sam rolled his eyes at his brother.

"That's my roommate, Gabriel Novak." Dean nodded, the guy was a bit weird, but if Sam and him were such good friends, than he must be a good guy.

Gabriel looked at Dean and smiled.

"From what I heard Dean-o, you are a bit like me…" Taking his eyes from Dean, to Sam, he smiled mischievously. "Sam, do you mind if I show the place to your brother? I want to ask him some things…"

"DON'T YOU DARE!" Sam yelled in response. Of course he knew where Gabriel was going; Gabriel had been waiting for the right time to strike and find every dirty little thing about Sam, and now he had the perfect opportunity.

Dean was a bit lost, but he figured that Gabriel was just messing with his brother. The little he knew about Gabe was that the guy was a trickster. Almost every text Sam sent him told him every mischief his roommate pulled on him. Deciding it would be good for him to be around his brother a bit more, Dean went along with Gabe's plan.

"Yeah, you know what, Sammy?" Dean said, turning to his brother, "I'm gunna go with Gabe here and I'll see you later. You can keep the beer." Dean took two cans of beer and took them as he tugged Gabriel's sleeve and pulled him to one of the hallways. He had no idea where they were heading, but it was nice to see the bitch-face in his brother once more. It's been too long. "Come on, Gabe!" He urged as he let go of the other guy's sleeve.

Gabriel ginned and waved Sam goodbye. He followed Dean, a wicked smile in his lips. As soon as they were out of Sam's view, Dean stopped and turned to Gabe.

"What do you want to know?" He asked, a grin adorning in his lips.

"Thanks for teaming up with me. I found some stuff about him, but I can't find where he's ticklish… I really need to know! One of these days, he'll piss me off and I'm gunna get revenge at two AM, by tickling him awake!" Gabriel was enjoying the scenery in his mind a bit too much. He could almost see Sam's face jerk awake and laughing as much as he could handle, because Gabe was getting revenge on some imaginary thing Sam did to him.

Dean laughed heartedly.

"If you must know, you should go for his feet." Dean explained. "There's also a spot in his back; that makes him laugh every time. It's a bit below his neck. Every time he misbehaved as kid, I would yell at him, and when he pouted, I would just press that spot and he would laugh every time. Ah man… Good times!" The nonchalant smile in Dean's face made Gabriel remember when he and Castiel used to live together. Oh the pranks I used to pull on you, Cassie…

"Thanks Dean-o!" Gabriel smiled mischievously and looked at Dean trying to suggest something. "You grab, I do the dirty job?"

It didn't take too long for Dean to grin at him.

"Sure!"

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

"I hate you both!" Sam said in an angry voice. He sat down and kicked Gabriel's hand from his foot.

"Aw! Come on Sammy!" Gabriel said, trying to hold his laughter, but not succeeding. "It was fun!"

Sam huffed in annoyance and looked at his brother.

"I can't believe you would team up with him!" Sam tried to sound hurt, but his brother knew that tone too well to know it was fake.

"Sammy, you can't fool me dude! I live with you for almost twenty years, you gotta know by now that I won't be fooled by such a fake laughter! And besides, I think you need to laugh more! So you're welcome!"

Sam couldn't stay mad for very long. He wanted to, but Dean made it difficult.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Two pizzas and five beers later, Dean realized he needed to head back.

"Yeah guys, I kinda need to go." He wanted to stay for longer, but he had to go to work early in the morning. "It was fun and nice meeting you, Gabriel."

Despite tagging along in Gabriel's prank, Dean wasn't sure he liked the guy. He looked too much like a prankster for his liking, but as they say 'It takes one to know one'. He wanted to like Sam's roommate, especially because of Sam's connection with the guy, but there was something in Gabriel that screamed trouble. He wanted his baby brother to be happy, with his new best friend, but he kinda wanted to be sure he wasn't going to lead Sam through rough paths. Ruby had been enough trouble and he didn't need another person like that in his life.

Sam pouted as he heard his brother's words. As usual, he was sad to hear his brother had to leave, but it also made him happy to know that they were good; that they could have dinners like this one from time to time. They could all be with their brothers happily and there would be no problem at all.

Dean left after a few minutes, promising he would visit again soon. He wanted to be sure Gabriel wasn't like he originally though and for that he needed to stay close to his brother for the near future.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

A few weeks later, they had fallen into an easy routine of having dinners with each brother every week. Sam and Gabriel started to know more about the other as their brothers spilled out some secrets of when they were younger. It only took them two months of weekly dinners to realize it would be much simpler if they simply joined both their brothers every two weeks to have dinner with them. The thought was turned into words by Gabriel.

"Saaaaaam, I think Cassie and Dean-o should meet. We are always having dinner with only one of them, why not have one big dinner together?" Not only did Gabriel want to have less trouble with dinners every week, but he also wanted his brother to meet new people. Gabriel was sure that his brother only had three friends at college: Gabe, Sam and Balthazar. Gabriel thought that introducing Dean to his brother would make him have more contact with people. Dean was an easy going kind of guy, he would be friendly with Castiel and maybe he would mock him a bit, but he would only do it in a playful way.

Sam also wanted the same for his brother. Ever since they were kids, Sam always saw his brother around lots of people, but after a while everything changed. Dean assumed he was bisexual, and some of his friends called him a freak and stopped talking to him. Sam wanted his brother to form new friendships with people that were nice.

Castiel and Sam started to become a more friendly around the third dinner; the awkwardness was put away when Sam asked if Castiel had any picture of Gabe going through all the phases of his life, starting with baby pictures and ending with the 'at-the-moment' Gabriel. Castiel was more than happy to show how chubby his brother used to be, how cute he looked when he was a five year old toddler, how puberty changed his features, and how he ended up. That was the moment Castiel started liking Sam more genuinely, at first he had his doubts, but after seeing Sam trying to embarrass his brother, he shoved those doubts away.

"Yeah, I think it's time they meet each other." Sam agreed.

And so it was settled. Sam called Dean and Gabriel called Castiel, they arranged the dinner to next Friday, but they decided to leave out the fact they were going to meet the other's brother, just in case they wouldn't show up.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Sam was starting to become impatient. Dean said he was on his way, but it seemed to Sam that it was taking too long. Castiel was sitting in one of the couches, talking with Gabriel, completely unaware of what was going to happen. Though he seemed to understand that Sam was preoccupied with something, at least that's what he thought when Sam started to pace around the room for no apparent reason while having his face all serious.

Gabriel looked at his brother and noticed something was off about him; he looked a bit sad and his voice wasn't as usual, it sounded like he was trying to distance himself from everything else. Gabe thought that if there was a problem his brother would tell him. There's no need to worry, if he needs me he will tell me.

It took more five minutes and a knock on the door to calm Sam down. Castiel found Sam's behavior strange, but he didn't say a word. He figured that if Sam managed to calm down, then it must be okay.

Sam opened the door and Dean's smug smile greeted him.

"Hey Sammy!" He said before hugging his brother close.

Sam hugged him back and sighed happy that his brother was there, and a but afraid of what his reaction would be when he found that they were going to have dinner with Gabe's brother as well. Sam's response was a bit different from what Dean expected it to be.

"What took you so long? I thought you had an accident or something! Next time please warn me if traffic is gunna slow you down, Dean!"

Dean looked at his brother and he understood just how concerned he had been.

"Sorry Sammy. I was leaving when one of my neighbors fell and the poor woman needed some help to get inside. After that I just needed to clean her wounds, she scratched her hands and knees. I couldn't just leave her there!" Dean reminded the fall and thought back on how he helped his favorite neighbor, just like she helped him tones of times before.

Sam sighed. There was no way he could argue with that, if Dean's neighbor fell, Dean was obviously gunna help her get back inside her place.

"It's okay, but please warn me next time." He begged.

Dean nodded.

"Sure thing Sammy."

Gabriel and Castiel were staring at Dean and Sam's interaction. Gabriel smiled, while Castiel looked confused. Slowly, Castiel pulled his brother's sleeve and whispered.

"Who's that?"

Gabriel looked at him and searched his brother's face so he could read him like an open book; just like always.

"That right there, Cassie… Is Sammy's brother: Dean-o!"

Castiel tilted his head, his eyes still fixed on the newcomer's face. He's handsome, Castiel thought as he watched the other man from across the room.

Sam looked over at his best friend and suddenly remembered about the only person in the room that didn't Dean.

"Hmm, right. Come here Dean." Sam said as he pulled his brother closer to where the Novak boys were sitting. "You know Gabe, of course. And I want you to meet his brother: Castiel." Sam looked at his brother before he looked at Gabe's sibling. "Castiel, this is Dean, my brother."

Castiel kept staring, though this time it was to Dean's eyes and not just his face. He noticed the freckles, but he decided that Dean's eyes were what he should focus on.

"Hello, Dean." Castiel said, his eyes never leaving Dean's.

At first, Dean thought it was a bit odd that Gabriel's brother was staring at his eyes, but that was until he actually looked at the guy. He had beautiful face and gorgeous blue eyes. Damn that guy is hot. Oh fuck! What was his name again? Cassiel? Castile? Can't risk looking like an idiot.

"Hey Cas." Castiel smiled upon the nickname and Dean felt happy to see such a beautiful smile in such a pretty face. Deciding it wouldn't do any harm to throw a pick up line, Dean added. "Was the fall from Heaven very painful? 'Cause you must be an angel."

Castiel smiled shyly and finally looked away from Dean's face. He felt a bit embarrassed that Dean was flirting with him, but he also felt the blush creeping to his cheeks. Cas never had been a very social guy. He was awkward in all situations and he knew that if someone flirted with him –which didn't happen that much- he didn't know what to do. He didn't know how to react except look away and try to hide his blushing cheeks.

Gabriel looked between the oldest brothers and smiled. I think we're getting somewhere! Looking briefly at Sam, he could see the same though in his best friend's smiling face. I think they'll get along really well! There you go, bro! I got you a new friend!

Despite their plan, Sam and Gabriel didn't plan on the other two getting along so quickly. They expected a lot of dinners before either of them to be comfortable with the other, but that didn't seem to be the case. Dean and Cas talked throughout their dinner, exchanging their opinions about all the subjects that came up to them.

"So, Dean-o…" Gabriel started, trying to push a new subject into the table. "How's the garage?"

Dean was a mechanic, and what he really wanted was to own his own garage, but for now, that seemed impossible. Paying school loans, helping Sammy with bills… It was a bit too much for him to suddenly buy a place and create his own business. Maybe in the future that would be an option, but right now, not so much.

"It's good, Gabe. Bobby said that there's a new car coming and that I will like it. I hope it's a good car, though there's no car prettier than Baby." He grinned.

Sam smirked. Dean had always had a thing for 'muscle cars' but there was one thing that never changed- his 1967 Chevy Impala was the best of all muscle cars.

"How can you compare a baby to a car?" Everyone looked at Castiel, who looked genuinely intrigued.

Silence remained for a few seconds before Sam and Gabriel started laughing. Dean gave his best to keep his straight face and not laugh at the other guy's ignorance, but it was impossible. Castiel looked really confused, and his expression only got more confused when they started laughing.

"Ah-" Dean tried to calm himself after a few minutes. "Cas, you're a really funny guy."

"I don't understand," Cas said, trying to comprehend what Dean meant.

The one who ended up explaining it was Gabriel.

"Cassie, Dean-o was talking about his car," he said, giving his best to calm himself down, but laughter always found its way back to him. "Baby is his car's nickname."

"Oh." Castiel couldn't say much more. His cheeks flushed red and his eyes focused on his plate. "I see…"

Despite all the laughter -and how funny the situation was- Dean felt sorry for him. It wasn't his fault that Cas didn't know what he was talking about; no-one ever told him. It was as simple as that.

"It's okay Cas. You didn't know," Dean said, trying to make the other guy feel a bit more comfortable in the situation. Dean was known for many things, and one of them was pride of was his car; if no-one told Cas of his love for the Impala, how could he laugh about that. Dean knew too well how to embarrass himself in all kinds of situations, so he always tried to make people see it was okay to let that happen from time to time. "Those two dicks never told you about my car, because they're jealous of my Baby, she's the prettiest car I've ever seen, and believe me, I've seen lots of cars. The way she purrs when I turn the engine on… It's the best sound I've ever heard. You gotta have a ride in her someday; I'll take you to the highway, the windows rolled down and the volume in its highest. We'll be above the speed limit, but that's the only way you can feel just how amazing she is." Dean was smiling brightly and once Castiel looked at his eyes, he saw that Dean meant those words. He planned on taking Castiel with him and to show him the beauty of his car. The thought of Dean and him being friends warmed him up more than he thought. His blush was even more visible. No-one ever cared about him so much as this. No-one cared enough to offer a ride through the highway just to feel the wind in their face as they rode an awesome car. The memory of earlier that day was still too clear in his mind, and having someone ask him to simple go on a ride with was the happiest he could go at the moment.

"Thank you, Dean," Cas said, trying to cover just how happy he felt. "I'd like that a lot." However, it was impossible to hide his smile. Castiel was too happy to control the way his lips quirked up.

Dean felt happy to see the way Castiel was smiling. He managed to make a new friend, one that seemed truly happy to simply have a bit of fun with him.

"You choose a day and we've got ourselves a date!" He said happily.

Gabriel's mouth was wide open. He had never seen his brother find himself a friend so quickly, let alone a date! Castiel's sexuality never helped him with that, being pansexual, he didn't care about a person's gender; to him it didn't matter, he liked a person for who they were and you might even say he liked their personality instead for their gender. And unfortunately for him, [or so Gabriel thought] Cas never found someone who had a personality he liked enough to have a date with. It saddened him to think that his brother hadn't met someone amazing that made him fall in love with, but on the other hand, he was happy that there hadn't been any douchebag out there to break his brother's heart. There was also the fact that ever since he stepped inside the common room of their floor, Castiel looked truly happy.

Sam was happy for his brother, he seemed to like Castiel, and for what he knew, Castiel was a nice guy. They seemed to understand each other well, even if they had only met about an hour before.

Castiel smiled brightly at Dean and nodded.

"I have an exam tomorrow morning but I'm free until the next round of exams."

Dean started searching his mind for his schedule and he was thrilled when he remembered that he wouldn't be the one to close the shop during the next two weeks. The employees at the garage took turns to close the garage –and of course to open it early in the morning-, and every week it was a different one of them. Since it wasn't a big garage -there were only three workers in there- which was the reason why Dean had two weeks of not closing the shop. He just had two more days of staying there alone at eleven PM and opening it at seven AM, and then he only had to be there at nine in the morning and he would be a free man during the evening starting at four PM. It was a nice deal, but there were some days when he covered for one of the other two. Adam and Jo usually asked him to stay behind so they could have a date or so, and he wouldn't mind, because he liked his work.

They didn't mind reattributing the favor when Dean had dinners at Sam and Gabe's. There were, of course, other days when the other two decided Dean had had enough work for the week, and said that that was their way of paying him back for staying behind while it was their week, and made him leave earlier. Jo and Adam were good guys and Dean liked working with them. The memory of how just last week Adam asked him to close the garage for him made him smile, he could ask Adam to do it for him this week.

"Tomorrow evening sounds good for you?" Dean asked.

Castiel wasn't expecting their date to be so soon. He wasn't even sure if Dean was joking about making it a date or not. He wasn't sure if answering yes would make him sound desperate, but he also didn't know if saying no would make him look like an asshole. He didn't want to be an asshole, he would much rather be considered desperate than an asshole.

"Yes. Tomorrow evening sounds good," He answered truthfully; his smile still in his face as they continued their dinner.

The rest of the meal went peacefully, some casual comments about their lives, how much their neighbors sucked, how mean some teachers could be and some sarcastic comments from Dean on how happy he was that his student life was over. Had anyone joined them in the common room, they would have thought that they all had known each other for years. The way Dean and Castiel looked so comfortable around each other made it seem like they had been best friends since forever. Both Sam and Gabriel saw that as well. They had the common thought of how amazingly well their plans to introduce their siblings had went; they had been the best idea both of them ever had ever since their weekly dinners started.

The only moment when they shut up was when some music started playing.

_'All the single ladies (All the single ladies)_

_All the single ladies (All the single ladies)_

_All the single ladies (All the single ladies)_

_All the single ladies. Now put your hands up_

_Up in the club_

_We just broke up_

_I'm doing my own little thing_

_You decided to dip_

_And now you wanna trip_

_Cause another brother noticed me_

_I'm up on him_

_He up on me_

_Don't pay him any attention_

_Cause cried my tears_

_For three good years_

_You can't be mad at me_

_Cause if you liked it_

_Then you should've put a ring on it_

_If you liked it_

_Then you should've put a ring on it_

_Don't be mad_

_Once you see that he want it_

_If you liked it_

_Then you should've put a ring on it_

_Uh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh_

_Uh, oh, oh, oh, oh'_

Before he moved to grab his phone, Gabriel let it play for a few seconds…

"Oh! That's right! That's my phone!" Gabriel said trying to sound as if he didn't notice it was his phone. Sam rolled his eyes, that song only became Gabe's ringtone after Sam expressed his hatred towards it. Gabriel felt like he needed to punish Sam for saying such a thing about Beyoncé's song. "Hello?" Gabriel said his voice letting everyone know that he was amused. "Oh! Balthazar! How are you?" Castiel shifted his chair, looking at Gabriel expectantly. "Yeah, he's here. Why do you ask?" Please don't tell him. Please don't tell him. Please don't tell him. Castiel thought, though it was in vain. "You WHAT?!" Shit. "Why didn't any of you say something?!" Gabriel was silently throwing daggers through his eyes in Castiel's direction. "An- What do you mean, you broke up?! When did you guys even get together?! We- Well thanks for warning a guy!" Gabriel sounded pissed and Castiel wanted nothing more than to run away and hide; his brother always turned into a different person when he was pissed at something. "You know what? FUCK YOU, BALTHAZAR!" And with that he hung up.

As Gabriel tried to collect himself, Castiel shrank in his chair; he couldn't think of any other place he could hide from his brother, it would be better if they just got together with this then and there.

"Castiel," Gabriel said. Sam recognized just how pissed Gabe was. He never spoke of his brother with his full name, it was always Cassie this or Cassie that, and never just the plain and cold Castiel. "When were you gunna tell me that you and Balthazar were together?"

Cas gulped and tried to hide himself, but he knew it was impossible. There was no way he would be able to hide from his brother.

"You don't tell me about your relationships, so I didn't see the need to tell you about mine." Despite his attitude, Castiel was thinking about how he could reason with his brother. Their roles had always been reversed, Cas was the oldest but Gabe was the protective brother. So every time something happened with Castiel, Gabe demanded to know immediately, so that he could take care of the problem right away, even if all he could do was try to support his brother. He simply wanted to know what had happened and how he could help.

"Don't try to be funny, Castiel! I had to find out through Balthazar that you two were together for three months?! Why didn't you tell me???" Gabriel didn't sound pissed anymore; he sounded hurt. His mind was telling him that Cas didn't trust him enough to tell him he had a boyfriend. "And I only found out because he broke up with you in the morning and you weren't answering your phone now! He said you left as soon as it happened and he was becoming concerned that you haven't shown up in your dorm yet! Cassie…" Gabriel looked at him, his eyes searching for his brother's. "Why didn't you say anything? I saw just how sad you looked but I thought you would tell me something was wrong!" The hurt in his voice was what made Castiel feel worse.

"I'm sorry, Gabe… I liked Balthy for a while, and we gave it a try. He cheated on me and we broke up today. I guess I didn't tell you because I didn't want to think about it. That was on my mind for the last thirteen hours, and all I wanted was to think of something else." Castiel didn't dare looking at Dean. Maybe Dean thought he was just using him to forget Balthazar. Maybe Dean thought that Cas didn't care about him. Maybe he hurt Dean for agreeing to go out with him so quickly after breaking up with Balthazar.

Gabriel sighed.

"It's okay, Cassie… I just wish you had told me. We could have gotten drunk together like in the old times! You would forget everything and I would have been there for you."

Castile smiled slightly at his brother's words.

"I don't need to get drunk to forget what happened. This dinner took my mind away from things well enough on its own." His smile didn't last long, though. He felt like the opening a hole in the floor and hiding in there until he had calmed down enough. He had indirectly said that agreeing to go out with Dean had distracted him enough to forget about his last boyfriend. He felt like he had doomed any possible friendship/relationship with him before it had even started. "I think I'm gunna head back now."

Gabriel didn't like the way Castiel was reacting. He didn't want Castiel to leave. He wanted Castiel to stay and talk to him; why couldn't he see that?

Sam was in glued to his chair. All he knew about Castiel was that he seemed exactly the opposite to what just happened. Gabriel told him about how shy Castiel was, how he only had one friend named Balthazar, how he wanted to make Castiel meet new people. Yet here he was, listening to his best friend saying that not only during the time he met Castiel, the guy had a boyfriend, he broke up with said boyfriend. He was shocked that Castiel had tried to get a date with his brother, but he couldn't blame him. When Sam and Ruby broke up, Sam felt drawn to a girl and he tried to forget Ruby the best he could, even if that meant ignoring what happened by starting something new. That was how he got into the amazing relationship he was with Jessica Moore, and he wouldn't trade what he did with anything else.

Sam looked at his brother. Dean looked sad, as if he was thinking that Castiel only said he would go out to make Balthazar jealous. How could Dean not see that Castiel looked extremely happy around him? Maybe it was because this was their first time around each other, but Sam could see that Castiel looked much more alive when he was talking to Dean, than he had ever seen him during the all the times they had their weekly dinners. Sam could see the difference and he recognized his attempts to create something new with Jess in what Castiel did with Dean. Dean also looked happy around Castiel. But Dean always looked happy; he was the type of guy who always had a smile in his face, and tried to joke every chance he got. And now looking at him and seeing the dejected person that he looked like. It was sad.

"Cas, please don't go." To the Novak brother's surprise, Sam was the one to say it. "You don't need to tell Gabe anything. We just wanna hang out with you. If you don't think you're ready to go back to your dorm, you can stay with us for tonight."

Dean looked at his brother, a bit hurt to see that he was taking Castiel's side, but he understood that he just wanted to help Castiel. After a breakup people can be really hurt and Castiel seemed a bit of a sensible kind of guy. He might need some kind of support to keep on going, even if it was just for that one night.

"I think I'll get going. I need to open up the garage in the morning. Good night guys." Dean said, slowly lifting himself from his chair. He wanted to make sure Cas had all the support he could get from Sam and Gabe, and that would only happen if he left.

Castiel closed his eyes. He didn't want any of this to happen. He was tired of his brother's attempts of trying to help him. Sam was a good person, but Castiel didn't need his help either. All he wanted was to be left alone for a while. Taking a sharp intake of oxygen to his lungs, to slowly exhale, he finally opened his eyes and spoke.

"I'm gunna go too. I don't want to stay. Thank you Sam… Gabriel. But I think I'll get going. I just need some fresh air and to be alone."

Gabriel knew that after his brother decided on something it was almost impossible to get him to agree to convince him otherwise. He sighed and nodded.

"If that's what you need, then I hope you at least visit tomorrow." He wanted his brother to be sure that he could visit anytime, just so that he was sure he was okay.

Castiel wasn't sure if Dean's offer was still standing. It probably wasn't… Castiel answered after pondering on his words for a while.

"I don't know… I'll see what happens. If I'm free I'll come here." He promised.

Dean looked at the Novak brother's interaction, a bit lost, and tried to understand what was going on after all. He understood what happened until that morning, he just wasn't sure why Castiel agreed to go out with him, or even why he wanted to leave after his brother said he could avoid his ex-boyfriend during that night.

Castiel didn't say anything else and simply moved past the table, grabbed his trench coat and walked out of there. Dean gave his last goodbyes and walked out of there too.

As he neared the last flight of stairs, he heard a soft sob. Dean looked around and saw someone curled up in himself.

"Hey, are you okay?" Dean asked, as he approached the person. It didn't take him long to understand the one crying was Castiel. "Shit. You okay, man?"

Castiel looked up and saw Dean near him. He wanted to go away from them all. He thought that Dean was only making an excuse to leave him alone, and if he left Dean would stay a bit more with the others. Without answering, Cas curled up on himself even more.

"Cas… You should have stayed with them, dude. Break ups are though."

Castiel wanted to laugh at those words. Dean just didn't understand.

"You don't understand." Castiel told him. Upon Dean's frown, he continued. "I'm not on the verge of breaking. I'm not that bad… I'm crying because I realized that I didn't like Balthazar as much as I thought. I'm crying because the only thing I felt when I walked in on them was that Balthazar had to change the sheets. I'm crying because I thought I was in love when I clearly wasn't. I was sad because I thought I'm not capable of loving anyone. I'm afraid I can't love anyone. That's why I'm crying. I don't want to go back to my dorm because I'll be reminded of that. Balthazar will say he is sorry and to give him another chance… But the only thing that actually bothered me was that he didn't love me either. I thought he loved me… But if he cheated on me, he clearly doesn't. What if no-one will ever love me? I'm scared of that." He couldn't keep talking. His words got stuck in his throat. He had just poured his heart out and that wasn't something Castiel usually did. Castiel was the shy guy who lived with his best friend, and that no-one talked to. He simply didn't pour his heart out to others…

"It's okay Cas… If he did that, maybe it was for the best. You understood that neither of you loved each other. You should be thankful that you understood that before you found yourself married to him, while you're in love with someone else." Dean tried to sound cheerful. His heart was broken by Castiel's fears. The way he sounded so sad… As if he didn't have any hopes of finding a nice person that would love him with all their heart. "You know what would do you good?" As he saw Castiel shake his head, he smiled. "A ride in the Impala… It does wonders to people. It will clear your head, I promise." Upon Castiel's shocked face, he laughed. "How about we have our date a bit earlier than it was supposed to?"

Castiel thought he was dreaming. Dean was too good to be true… How could he offer to go out with him just to cheer him?

"You have work early in the morning… You just said so…" He said, trying to reason with Dean. "And I have my test in the morning… I need to sleep."

Dean sighed.

"I'm not taking a 'no' for an answer Cas. Please answer me honestly. If I took you home right now, would you go to sleep?" Castiel shook his head. "That's what I thought. And don't worry about me. I'll just ask Adam to open the garage for me." And so he took his phone from his pocket to arrange everything with Adam. A few texts later, Dean was smiling brightly. "It's all settled. Can we go now?"

Castiel still didn't believe this was happening to him. But as Dean offered his hand to help him rise from the floor, Castiel smiled and took his hand.

"Yes."


	2. Bonding Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long, but I've been studying for my math test...

_ **Chapter Two** _

Dean walked Castiel to the Impala and opened the door for him. Castiel thanked him and Dean closed the door once Cas was settled in.

"Are you ready?" Dean asked as soon as the engine was on.

Castiel wasn't sure he wasn't dreaming. The car was beautiful, and Dean was being so gentle with him. It was more than Castiel ever hoped for.

"Yes, let's go." His mind wasn't focusing on Balthazar or anything related to it. Simply being with Dean made him calm; something that usually was hard for him to achieve.

Dean smiled at him and drove them away from campus. They drove to the highway, Dean got some music blaring through the speakers and they were dead to the world. None of them cared about what they had to do the next day; none of them cared what they left behind. All they cared for was the way Dean was leading them away from everything that bothered Cas. The windows were fully open, and as the wind made its way inside the car, Dean hummed softly to the music playing. Castiel looked outside. The sun had long been gone, and he could only see about three meters before it was too dark for his eyes to see anything besides dark.

They drove for hours, until Dean found a nice spot to park the car. Castiel wasn't sure why they stopped, but he didn't bother questioning it. Since Dean didn't move from his spot behind the wheel, they simply stayed there, staring at the city. They were on top of a plain, and they could see everything from there down. Above the city, the stars were now shining, letting them see a bit more than before. About half an hour of simply sitting there Dean finally spoke.

"Sorry I didn't tell I was stopping. I just–whenever I feel troubled, I come here… This place–it calms me down." Dean was having a bit of trouble with his words. It looked like he wanted to speak what he was thinking, but his mind was too fast for his mouth.

Castiel looked at him and sighed.

"It's okay, Dean. I like it here." After a few seconds of staring at each other, Castiel resumed. "Thank you for bringing me here."

Dean chuckled.

"I'm glad… And you're welcome." Dean shut up; his eyes flickered down. From the way he was acting, it looked like he wanted to say something more, but wasn't sure if it would be too weird; Castiel could take it bad and that was the last thing he wanted to happen. After fighting with himself for a few minutes, Dean spoke again. "I'm happy that you're not crying anymore ya know?" With that he looked into Cas' eyes.

With their eyes fixed on each other's Castiel was sure he was dreaming. Why was Dean being so nice to him? His cheeks showed how flustered he was with Dean's words, even if he wasn't willing to admit it. He couldn't answer… He was too shy to do so.

Dean was embarrassed with his words.  _Idiot! Now he thinks you're weird!_

"Are you okay?" Dean asked, trying not to show just how embarrassed he was. "I mean, do you feel better now?"

Castiel smiled upon Dean's shyness. Dean looked cute when he was embarrassed.

"Yes, Dean. Thank you for getting me out of there." Looking at his lap, he stopped for a while. Castiel wanted to thank him again and again; now the matter of  _love_  sounded dumb and not worth anyone's time. He wanted to forget he was ever so weak to think like that. He just didn't know how to thank Dean. "What should we do now?"

Dean looked to the front window and smiled.

"How about we get out of the car?" He suggested, his eyes going back to Castiel's. "We could seat in the hood of Baby."

Just being offered something like that was from another world to Castiel. After being rejected by just about everyone during his whole life, finally having someone to simply try and cheer him was unbelievable; it made him happy.

"That sounds great, Dean." Castiel replied with his most thankful smile.

The smile only made Dean blush. The way Castiel looked; it was more than he ever thought. So far, all he knew about Castiel was what he found out that day and whatever little Gabriel spoke about him. During all those dinners with Sam and Gabe, Castiel had been brought into conversation but Gabriel never said too much about him. Only light mentions about how his dorky brother was, or how he got the top score in his class. Until the dinner itself, Dean had no idea what Gabriel's brother would be like exactly; he only knew for sure that he was a good student and that Gabriel cared a lot for him. Today had been about finding out about what Castiel was like; he decided to find out all the little details about Castiel, like how he looked cute when he spoke about his courses, how cute he looked when he was embarrassed.

So far, Dean was enjoying the other's company a lot, and that scared him; after being in a relationship with Lisa for so long, he almost forgot what he liked. Dean liked cute girls, true; but Dean also liked cute guys. Seeing Castiel so shy and a blushing mess only made him remember that. Trying not to think too much about what Dean likes, he got up from the drivers' seat and walked to the trunk. When he walked back to the hood, he laid some blankets in it. Castiel was outside of the car too, but he was still wondering what Dean was planning. When he saw Dean climbing to the hood he finally understood.

The laid there for a while. Neither of them actually speaking, simply staring at the stars. When Dean turned to see Castiel, he noticed how tender his features were. Cas' face was beautiful; those pinks lips were begging to be kissed, those deep blue eyes were gorgeous –even with the small shots of blood surrounding them- , that messy hair was perfect to be ruffled. Dean felt the need to lock Castiel away from everyone's reach; to keep him all to himself… He felt like he wanted to keep everyone away from him because of how he looked before. When Castiel was crying, Dean's heart almost broke. To see such a beautiful being in such pain had been a bit too much; to see those raw fears in those gorgeous blue eyes… Dean sighed and concentrated in Cas' eyes. They looked so beautiful with the stars reflected in them; Dean never wanted to look up from there ever again. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

Castiel wondered how he could have had such luck. Sam's brother could have been a jackass that didn't give a shit if he was crying; but instead Dean was one of the most amazing people he had ever met. Looking at the stars he stopped thinking about everything else apart from Dean. Those stars reminded him of the freckles in Dean's face; they reminded him of the gold in Dean's eyes. Despite the short time they had been around each other, Castiel noticed how Dean's features were. Castiel noticed almost everything there was to notice about Dean Winchester. The thing he noticed above everything else was his heart. He noticed how Dean flirted with him, and how later on he tried to make him feel better. To have someone try to make him feel better was new to him. He always had people mock him, kick him, say the most awful things about him… And then there was Dean, being all perfect and amazing with him. Castiel felt like he didn't deserve to be around someone as amazing as Dean, but he felt like he couldn't walk away; at least not yet.

Castiel sighed. He didn't want to think about how he should walk away from Dean; how he should simply forget he met someone as amazing as him. The stars were shinning bright, just like Dean's eyes were while they were having dinner. Dean looked happy to be around his brother. The smile in his face whenever he spoke with Sam; the way he laughed whenever he made a funny remark about their life in the past… It made Castiel want to be like that with his own brother; to have the Gabriel laugh and smile brightly whenever they saw each other… But that wasn't gunna happen. Gabriel was his friend, but they had never been as close as Dean and Sam looked like. There was no way Gabriel and him would ever be like that.

"Are you sure you don't want booze?" Dean asked, startling Castiel. If Castiel hadn't looked as miserable as before, Dean wouldn't have suggested it. But to simply see Castiel's features shift from peaceful to sad; well they made him sad as well. And if booze could help, why not have them get drunk if it helped plant a smile in that beautiful face of Castiel's?

"No thank you, Dean." Castiel replied. He wasn't expecting Dean to be looking at him. When he got startled, he looked at Dean and was even more startled to see Dean looking at him in the eyes, concern adorning his expression. "I'm fine."

"If you say so…" But Dean didn't sound convinced. He kept looking at Castiel, trying to read his expression; trying to understand what was  _wrong_. "If there's anything wrong, Cas… You know you can tell me right? I know we just met, but I want to be here for you. To help you through whatever shit you have in your mind… I just want to help." His voice sounded so truthful. Dean was looking at him with his green eyes filled with concern.

"I know." And it was true. So far, all that Dean had done was help. He took him away, helped him forget what he wanted to forget, and gave him the opportunity to pour his heart out once more. Despite his usual shy nature, Castiel wanted to reach out and grab the hand Dean offered. He just wasn't sure what Dean's answer would be. It took him a while to decide; and during all that time, Dean stood there, his eyes fixed on Castiel's, simply waiting for him to continue. "I don't know why but the idea of the way you and Sam interact with each other made me sad. I mean… I know why. Me and Gabe we… We have never been as close as we should. Despite everything, we were close enough, but not as much as it should have been. He tried to be there for me, but I always ran away afraid of sharing too much of my problems with him. I know he would have tried to help me… I just couldn't take it. I couldn't get myself to tell him all the things that were wrong, and now it's too late. I can't tell him how I was bullied when I was in tenth grade; I can't tell him how people mock me for being weird… If I told him he would be angry at me… And I can't-I can't have that. I need him to be okay with me. I can't say anything. And that is what doomed our relationship. We're never gunna be as close as you and Sam; and it's entirely my fault. I'm pathetic like that."

Dean didn't know exactly what to say. He knew that there was more to Castiel than he let people know, but he never thought the guy would be this broken. His heart broke a bit more as he felt sorry for the guy. There was so much he wanted to say and do, but he didn't know what would be okay and what wouldn't. He decided it shouldn't matter; Castiel was broken and crying once again, and if he could make him be okay once more then it would be worth it.

"You know what Cas?" Castiel shook his head as he tried to hide his face from Dean's eyes. "I don't think Gabriel would be mad at you. He would be mad at himself for not noticing you were –and still are- hurting. I think he would feel disappointed that his big brother was in so much pain and he was too busy with himself to even notice that." Castiel kept his eyes shut, and facing the side where Dean wasn't. "And you know what more I think? I think that you need someone to tell you that you are amazing. You're not pathetic… You are strong, and you should have someone tell you that every day. The fact that you kept on living while you were in such pain proves it exactly. I wish you didn't feel like you don't matter. When I visited Sam and Gabe for the first time, we hadn't spoken in six months. The only constant good thing in my life has always been Sam. If something's wrong, he's there to help me and same if he has a problem. We need each other, and we will always be around to help if the other needs. After a few visits, Gabe mentioned that his brother was amazing and how he had such great scores in his exams. And you know what?" Castiel shook his head, finally turning to Dean, though his eyes were still closed. "He looked so damn proud of his older brother. You think you aren't good enough, well I can see that you care for your brother and he sure as hell cares about you, Cas.

Me and Sammy, we're not perfect. We have our fair share of fights, but it somehow always ends up alright. After all our family has always been like that and we need to stick together, especially after a fight." Castiel was now looking directly at him. He felt himself blush and he pretended it didn't make his heart flutter. He simply stared to Castiel's face, searching for any indication that his speech had fulfilled its purpose.

Castiel couldn't speak. His throat was dry and all he could do was stare at Dean. Looking at those green eyes meant everything at that moment. That moment they shared just then made their newfound friendship so much deeper than they ever expected. In only one night they shared more with each other than with anyone else. They bonded over their family and how that almost made them family as well. Sam and Gabriel behaved like brother so maybe that made them family to each other… Neither of them cared; all Dean cared was to make Castiel understand that what seemed perfect hadn't always been like that, and all that Castiel cared was that Dean  _cared_. Nothing else mattered. When his throat opened up enough to let him speak, he only had three words in his mouth.

"Thank you Dean." And that was it. He said nothing more, and it wasn't needed. They both understood what Castiel meant with that. He was thanking Dean for  _caring_. He didn't mean to, but he couldn't avoid it. He started crying over Dean's actions. In just one night, he proved to care more about him than Balthazar ever did.

All Dean could do in response was to grab Castiel's waist and pull him close. His hands were wrapped around Castiel's waist and he hugged him close. Castiel needed to feel loved and right now, his heart was full of love for the guy.

Castiel was overwhelmed with the sensation of just h _ow much exactly_  Dean  _cared_. It didn't matter that he hardly knew the guy; it hadn't mattered when he poured his heart out, so it didn't matter now. Especially now that Castiel felt like Dean could become his best friend. The tears kept falling and he was shaking in Dean's arms; though this time, he was crying in happiness.

* * *

Knock. Knock. Knock.

"I'm coming!" Sam yelled angrily as he waked across the room; when he opened the door to see Castiel standing in front of him he softened. Ever since last night, both he and Gabriel had been concerned with Castiel, and now he was standing by their room's door with a smile. "Cas?"

OoOoOoO

Castiel was nervous, while standing in front of Sam, but he couldn't help it when his mind went back to the previous night and its events. Cas ended up falling asleep in Dean's arms and when he woke up he noticed that Dean was asleep too. Castiel decided to simply go back to sleep and wait for Dean to wake him up; he rested his head in Dean's chest and with his eyes closed once more, he fell asleep as soon as his face touched Dean.

About one hour and a half later, Dean woke up and he smiled. Castiel was so peaceful in his arms; nothing like the shaking, crying mess that he hugged the night before. Carefully, he shook Castiel.

"Cas?" He called, trying to wake him up. "Come on, buddy. You have an exam to do, don't ya?" He said trying to joke a bit. Castiel raised his head from Dean's chest and slowly he opened his eyes. "Welcome to the world of the living!" Dean greeted with a smirk.

Castiel was too sleepy to even think about a comeback. He let his head fall back to Dean's chest.

"Aw, come on! I thought you said you had an exam! And now all you want is go back to sleep? I thought you only had perfect scores and never slept in!" Dean said playfully.

"That's when I had a full night's sleep. As you know that didn't happen. I just need five more minutes." Not even the sun light bothered Castiel when he was tired. All he knew was that he needed five more minutes if he wanted to have another perfect score in his exam. The only time he hadn't had a full night's sleep he fell asleep in the middle of the exam and needless to say, he failed. This time he really had to sleep those five more minutes if he didn't want to repeat that failure.

Dean chuckled.

"Alright buddy." He said, as his hand traced patterns in Castiel's hair. The feeling was soothing and made Castiel feel more comfortable than if he was in his own bed.

OoOoO

"Cas?" Sam asked one more time, trying to wake Castiel from his daydream. "You alright?"

Castiel looked at Sam and smiled. He spent an amazing night with someone that had been amazing with him, his exam went fantastically well, and now he was going to bond with his brother; He couldn't be better.

"I'm very well, Sam. Thank you for asking." He replied softly. "Is Gabe here?"

Sam sighed in relief. Both he and Gabriel had worried about Castiel all night. The way he looked when he left made them afraid that he was hurting too bad, but didn't feel comfortable enough to tell any of them.

"Yeah, he's inside eating candy as usual. Come on in!" Sam said in earnest.

"Thank you." Cas replied as he stepped into his brother's dorm room. This was the first time he actually went to their room; all the other times had been spent in the common room instead of the room. "You have a nice bedroom." Castiel complimented.

"Aww thanks bro!" Gabriel's voice replied. The youngest Novak was lying in his bed, reading a book with a lollipop in his mouth. "We took a lot of effort to make it livable, didn't we Sammy?"

Castiel smiled. His brother looked like he was in his element, and he probably was; if he made it  _livable_ , that meant he changed how it was before… He rearranged his room to how he liked it. The desk was as far away from his bed as possible, the bathroom door was close enough and his bed was beside Sam's. He turned the bedroom theirs, instead of leaving it only for sleeping and studying.

"Hell yeah we did!" Sam nodded in agreement. "It took us a week before we figured out what we had to change in this place!"

A short cry from Gabriel was heard.

"Do you remember how this place looked like  _before_? It was awful! No one would have ever felt like home in there!"

Part of Castiel wanted to agree that school dorms never felt like home when they got there, but he hadn't changed his, so he couldn't say anything about it.

Suddenly remembering what happened to his brother the previous night, Gabriel changes the subject.

"How are you, bro?" He asked concern filled in his voice.

Castiel sighed and sat himself near his brother.

"I'm much better now." And it was true. Dean had been amazing and he felt that if someone like Dean decided to spend time with him, then people might be able to love him; the way Dean spoke of how his brother mentioned him made him think that maybe they could be like Dean and Sam. Castiel looked at Sam before continuing. "Your brother took me away from everything and… It's all good now."

Sam knew his brother was the type of person to help everyone he found, so it didn't really surprise him to hear that. He just wanted to understand what he did to help Castiel become  _much better_.

"That's Dean for you." Sam said with an easy smile.

Gabriel decided to ask what both he and Sam were thinking. It wasn't that he didn't trust Dean with his brother or something like that; the reason was that he wanted to know  _how to make it much better too_.

"What did he do anyway?" Gabriel tried not to make a big deal out of the situation; just a casual question to a casual subject.

Before speaking, Castiel sighed.

"He took me in the Impala. He drove us away from everything… An-And it calmed me down. He simply was there." Cas didn't know how else to explain it. It had been the best moment in his life and he wasn't sure how to put into words why. "He made me feel accepted." Castiel ended up saying, after struggling with his own mind to find the perfect words.

"How so?" Sam asked confused about the way Castiel put it.

That was the moment. Castiel knew it. He had to tell them what he told Dean last night. He promised Dean he would; he just hoped it would take a while for that moment to come.

"Please don't be angry at me." Castiel said, his body curling up on itself as a reflection of his nerves. "If you want to understand what happened, there are a few things you need to know about me."

Gabriel thought he knew everything there was to know about his brother, but the way Castiel was speaking… It looked like Castiel murdered someone and never told him!

"When we were younger" Castiel started. "I used to be bullied." A gasp of shock from Sam and a widen of Gabriel's eyes was the response. "People used to kick me, mock me, whatever they felt like doing. Because of that I have an awful confidence in myself."

Sam and Gabriel were, to say the least, shocked. Of everything Castiel could say, this was the last one of them. Though Sam didn't know Castiel very well, he knew the oldest Novak was a caring person that wouldn't hurt a fly, why would someone be so mean to a person like Cas? Gabriel, who was around during those times, never once suspected it. He felt guilt, shame and rage came through him; he wanted to kill those bastards!

"Why didn't you say anything, Cassie?" Despite all those emotions, Gabriel was hurt that Castiel didn't tell him what was going on.

"I didn't want you to know how weak I am." Castiel said, trying to fight back his emotions; he didn't want to cry again. "You were always looking up to me with that stupid smile and I couldn't tell you… I simply couldn't. I just had to let you be happy. I couldn't ruin your happiness."

Gabriel shook his head.

"This is the type of thing that you  _have_  to tell your brothers!" He said angrily. "Even if it ruins their happiness; if you need help, you should seek it."

Castiel sighed. Dean was right. Gabriel wasn't mad at him; he was mad at not being able to do anything to change the past.

Gabriel knew Castiel learnt the lesson of sharing these facts with him, so he decided to keep him talking about the other thing he wanted to know.

"What about Balthazar?"

"Me and Balthazar, that's another story." Castiel muttered. Gabriel and Sam looked a bit confused; Castiel's expression wasn't one of sorrow. In fact, Cas didn't look like he was about to break in tears any moment; he looked annoyed with the topic. "The thing between us was very simple. I thought I liked him; he thought he liked me. Turns out neither of us likes the other that much."

Gabriel didn't know what to say.  _What the hell? So this is what it was about!_

"You know that he still cares about you, right?" To everyone's surprise, it was Sam who spoke. Upon Cas' frown, he explained. "He called Gabe all night, trying to know if you were alright; if you were gunna go back… We just told him you wanted to be alone."

"Thank you Sam." Castiel said. One of the things that made him cry, was the fact he thought no one cared about him (apart from Gabriel), and now find out Balthazar had been concerned about him… It was good to know. Despite his promise to Dean, Castiel was sure he wouldn't be able to voice any more of his problems; at least not right now.

Gabriel pulled his brother into a hug.

"You should have told me, dumbass." Castiel felt like this was a step towards the relationship between Sam and Dean. He smiled slightly and hugged his brother tightly. In his brother's arms he felt like a child. He wanted to apologize, and simply stay in there until he felt it was safe to let go. Very much like when he let go of Dean; only when he felt safe.

"I'm sorry." Cas whispered, not moving from Gabriel's hold. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." Cas was trembling, trying to stop himself from shaking and to prevent his tears from falling from his eyes.

Gabriel felt terrible; his brother thought he was angry at him… Of course he did! Why else would he be shaking like this?

"There's nothing to be sorry Cassie. You did what you thought was best for both of us. Just, maybe, next time don't make my decisions for me. I can choose what's best for me by myself… If you have a problem, don't tell yourself it will make me unhappy. You know what makes me unhappy? To see you sad, Cassie, you can't be like this! You need to turn to someone when you need help. I will help you in any way I can, and I bet Sammy too!"

Castiel had forgotten the presence of the youngest Winchester in the room. His brother's arms made him forget everything else that was surrounding him.

"Yeah, anything you need we're both here for you." Sam agreed quickly.

Feeling a lot better than before, Cas took a deep breath and let go of his brother.

"Thank you; both of you," Cas said in earnest with a slight smile.

Sam smiled. Castiel looked so much happier now that he voiced his problems to them.

"You're welcome. This is what family is for!" Gabriel said, putting his arm around Castiel's back. "Ain't that right, Sammy?"

"It sure is Gabe!" Sam replied amused. After a few seconds, Sam decided he should add something to what he said. "You know, Cas… I'm here for whatever comes at ya. For good and bad; I'm gunna be here to help you both get through it. You guys are as much my family as Dean and Jess. I want to help you in any way I can."

That took Castiel by surprise; he had no idea Sam cared so much about him. That seemed to be a new thing to find out lately. Some people actually cared about him.

"You have no idea how much that means to me Sam." Castiel said with his voice filled of emotion. "If you need anything, I will do my best to try and help you too."

"Aww, you guys are so cute!" Gabriel said, jumping in front of them and pulling them into a group hug. "We should have a sleepover tonight!" Gabriel decided out of a sudden. "We have to watch Disney movies –I still remember how much you love Disney, Cassie! - and braid each other's hair!"

Of course Gabriel was only partially joking; he really wanted to watch movies with them.

Castiel blushed and opened his mouth a few times to reply. It took him a while, but he eventually managed to do it.

"Hmm… Since it's family, shouldn't we invite Dean as well?" Castiel didn't want to be rude to Dean; the guy was pretty much what made him get a nice night's sleep to ace his exam. He wanted to show him his gratitude even if it was just by inviting him to watch movies at night. As the other two looked at him funny, Cas tried to explain himself as best he could without having to tell them what happened during the night. "I mean, we kinda have family dinners, right?" The other two nodded. "And you kinda invited both of us at the same time, right?" Another nod. "So I thought it would be rude not to include him in our bonding time together as a  _family_."

Sam smiled.

"Sure! Why not? We just have to omit we're gunna watch Disney movies or he won't show up at all."

Gabriel snorted.

"Oh God! I can totally picture him being all manly avoiding Disney movies." A bright smile crossed his features as an idea came up to him. "We should have a  _Disney and DreamWorks _Marathon__."

Sam laughed.

"Oh God, please!" He said tried to stop himself from laughing too much. "I still remember when I first got him to see  _How To Train Your Dragon_ , he was really mad at me- I told him we were gunna see an action movie- And OH GOD! You should have seen his face!" Sam said in between laughs.

Castiel was the only one that didn't laugh. Not because he didn't find it funny… He just didn't understand why they would be so mean to him. This was not how he wanted to show he was thankful! Absolutely not!

"But if he doesn't like Disney movies, then we should watch something we all like, don't you think?" Castiel tried to reason with them.

That only made the other two laugh even harder.

"Not a chance in hell!" Gabriel said.

"Hell yeah! You haven't lived a good life until you've seen his face when Pixar's logo shows up in the screen!" Sam agreed quickly. "Dude you have to see his face! I swear to God! I'll record it this time!"

* * *

Castiel tried. He gave his best, but he failed. No one would let him warn Dean. They made him stay away when they called Dean, and unfortunately for him, his phone's battery was still dead in his room. There was no way in hell he could warn Dean about their plan.

Panic was driving Castiel crazy and he was almost out of nails. So many things could go wrong from this situation! What if the fact that he was part of it made their friendship end!? He couldn't have that! Not when he just got to know Dean.

It was true that he didn't know Dean all that well; that all he knew was from the brief moments they spent together, but he couldn't help but feel some sort of connection to him. It was easy to speak with Dean, he felt at ease in the other guy's presence… He couldn't exactly explain what he felt, but he was sure that there was something inside of him screaming that he didn't want to lose Dean's friendship.

All of a sudden, Castiel was pulled from his thoughts by a knock on the door. A smirk from both Gabe and Sam made Cas groan. He did  _not_  want to be a part of this! He wanted to bond with them, but not like this! Not when there was so much at stake!

"Shut up Cassie!" Gabe snarled, before he opened the door.

There was nothing he could do now. He knew their plan and from what Sam told him, he knew what Dean's reaction would be… But he still felt like he shouldn't help them get Dean annoyed.

The door was opened and Dean walked inside with an easy smile. He greeted everyone, except for Cas. Castiel felt strange. He found it odd that Dean hadn't greeted him. Maybe he didn't like Cas when he finally got to spend some time with him! Or maybe he knew Cas was gunna be a part of what was about t-

"Hey Cas." Dean said as he took off his leather jacket to hang it in a chair near Cas. He was smiling towards Castiel with his eyes shining.

Castiel suddenly felt relieved and ashamed at the same time. Dean liked him, at least that's what Cas understood by the way Dean was standing so close to him, but Cas felt like he was betraying Dean's trust by not telling him what was about to happen. Maybe it was because Castiel didn't have friends, but he was used to pranking others; especially people he cared about.

"Hello Dean." Castiel said, his eyes searching the floor.

Dean kept on smiling at him, until he got his answer. After that, he continued to show his happy face, and started asking some questions that were on his mind.

"How did the test go?"

Castiel smiled and thought back to that morning when he told Dean he needed five more minutes before his test.

"It went alright… Those five minutes made the difference." Cas said, one hundred percent sure the others wouldn't understand what he meant.

Dean grinned like a dork, because seriously, that's what he was at the moment. He was at his brother's room, with Sammy's best friend, and the guy with whom he spent the night with. He felt like, right now, he was the only person that knew Castiel better than everyone else, and maybe he did. He noticed when Cas was sad, he noticed that Cas was happy now, and he knew the reason for that change was the time he spent with him. Above that, was the fact Cas just shared a private-joke with him, while the others didn't understand.

"Yeah, just like you said… As long as you get a perfect score I wouldn't mind if it had taken ten more minutes." Dean said with a wink that made Cas blush.

Sam and Gabriel exchanged looks.  _What the hell was happening?_  That's what their faces were screaming.  _What were they talking about?_  Neither of them knew and they weren't sure they wanted to find out. A few seconds and a nod later, it was agreed they were simply going to ignore their exchange.

"Let's get this party started!" Gabriel stated with a smile, trying to win the older guys' attention; Dean and Cas were lost in each other's eyes.

It took about one more minute before Dean looked away from Castiel towards Gabriel.

"Yeah! Let's get this thing started!" Poor Dean had no idea what they were going to force him to watch.

Everyone sat down, Sam and Gabe joined their bed and sat down in there, each in his own bed. Since neither of them new if it would be alright to sit down on the beds, Dean and Cas ended up sitting alone on the floor. Without even noticing it, Dean sat himself close to Castiel, so that their thighs were pressed against each other. But Castiel didn't notice either, he was too busy panicking; Cas' mind was thinking of all the bad things that could go wrong with their situation. Cas could feel the sweat falling from his forehead.

The TV was in the middle of the room, and it turned out Dean and Cas had the best seat in the house. Sam got up from his spot to grab the remote; since they had everything planned, everything was already sat up. Everything they needed was in a place of easy reach and they all knew exactly how to act.

As the TV was turned on, Sam looked at Gabriel and nodded. Everything was set and they were ready for the next step of their prank.

As soon as the TV was turned on, an audible sigh was heard.

"Do we  _really_  need to watch the commercials?!" Dean asked a bit annoyed. He hated watching the commercials! If he bought the DVD, he should be able to skip them, but the others wouldn't let him… Except for Castiel, who didn't say a word, and simply kept staring at the TV.

"Yes, Dean!" Sam replied. "I paid for the DVD, so we're gunna watch everything that comes with it!" That wasn't exactly true… Sam hadn't bought the DVD, he simply downloaded it and recorded it into a DVD, but Dean didn't need to know that! Sam thought about everything that came up with the DVDs, he even downloaded a few ads of movies from YouTube so that Dean wouldn't think it was a weird thing.

Dean groaned.

"Fine!" And so they kept watching the commercials and movie previews Sam had downloaded.

It didn't take more than two movie previews for the Disney Pixar's logo to show up. Sam and Gabriel were staring at Dean, waiting to see his reaction; in the meanwhile, Castiel was trying to close his eyes and pretend none of it was happening. He couldn't watch it… There was no way he was gunna watch the moment that would ruin his friendship forever.

"Wh-" Dean said, his voice confused as the logo started showing. "Wait a second!" His voice started to sound mad. "Are you kidding me?" He asked, his voice showing his anger. " _Disney movies?!_ "

Sam and Gabe started laughing as soon as Dean's last question left his lips. They were too busy laughing to realize the way Castiel was trying to turn invisible.

Dean leaned towards him.

"You knew about this?" He asked, his voice showing a bit of his hurt.

Castiel was ashamed. He let the moment happen and they were only doing this to make him happy. It was because of him that they were watching the movie anyway… How could he let this happen?

"I'm sorry, Dean." Cas said, trying to make Dean see that he was actually sorry. "I tried to stop them…. But Gabe said we had to invite you."

Maybe if Cas had said he was fine… That it wasn't necessary to watch Disney movies… Maybe this wouldn't have happened.

"Why did they even want to watch these things anyway?" Dean asked his voice full of anger.

Castiel winced. He was sorry, and he wanted to go back in time and convince Gabe he didn't need to watch Disney movies… Maybe then everything would be fine.

"This is all my fault." Cas said, as he curled up in himself. He wanted to turn invisible and leave, but there was no way Gabe was gunna let him run away.  _Maybe he won't notice…_  It wasn't like Gabe was looking at him; he was too busy laughing his ass off. Cas sighed, he made up his mind… He was going to run for his life and never look back.

Cas was already standing and ready to start running when a hand grabbed his arm. It couldn't be either Gabe or Sam… Their laughter was still heard, so Castiel was sure it wasn't them. That could only mean it was Dean; but why would he do that?

Turning around to face Dean –who got up from his place on the floor- was one of the most difficult things Castiel had ever done. His nerves were the thing that made his voice tremble and his eyes flicker from Dean's head to the floor.

"Dean-" Cas started, not sure of what to say.

"It's not your fault, Cas." Dean said at almost the same as Cas stopped speaking. "Those morons think it's funny; but I can see you don't share their thoughts." Despite those words, Castiel still felt uneasy… Dean just said that he didn't blame him, but his conscience was telling him that it was indeed his fault for not stopping it.

"Yes it is…" Castiel replied, his eyes fixed permanently on the floor. "I should have tried harder to keep this from happening–we're only watching these movies because of me anyway." His voice was filled with regret.

"Shut up Cas!" Dean said, his voice a bit higher than he intended. "It's not your fault. You're not the one who asked me to come, right?" When Castiel didn't reply, Dean repeated the question. "Right?" A brief nod from Castiel made him resume. "You said you  _should have tried harder_ , is it just me or does that mean you tried to prevent this?"

"I did…" Cas replied weakly.

"So there you go. It's not your fault… If anything, you're just as much as a victim as I am!" Dean said playfully, trying to cheer Cas.

A small smile grace Cas' face and Dean smiled.

"There you go… I like it better when you're smiling." That one line made Castiel's smile open a bit more; even if he was mad at himself he couldn't help it.

Their exchange of words got them so focused on each other's words that they didn't even notice the laughter stop. Gabe and Sam were staring at them; Sam looked at them with a knowing smile, while Gabe looked a bit lost.

Dean smiled at Cas and pulled him down to their place on the floor.

"You said we were watching these because of you… So why don't we just start doing it already?"

Sam smiled and pressed the button so that the movie would keep playing. The four of them stayed in the room until they were happy with all the movies… Dean sat beside Cas during the whole time, and despite what Sam said, Castiel noticed how Dean's face shifted during every bit of the movies… He even saw how Dean knew the lyrics to some of the songs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Was the chapter alright?


End file.
